Chapter 291: The Iron Oak Matrix

Evening slowly settled over the village, enveloping the streets in soft twilight as the fires began to glow. The newcomers were gradually settling into their new home. Quiet conversations, gentle laughter, and the clatter of tools could be heard here and there as some people continued working late into the evening.

Eliza was among a group of recent arrivals. She asked them about their living conditions, checked whether they had been given everything they needed, and offered advice, gently but firmly overseeing their adjustment to life in the settlement.

By the end of the day, a couple of new half-timbered houses had already been completed in the village, their finished facades, neat roofs, and clean windowpanes gleaming in the fading light. Farther down the street, however, numerous new frames still stood waiting to be roofed and fitted with windows.

Far away, deep in the forest, almost at the foot of the massive mountains clearly visible through the evening haze, the ground trembled again and again from deep, muffled impacts. Among the spreading treetops, Elyria and Noah were locked in an all-out battle, turning the quiet woodland into an arena where they could test the limits of their own abilities.

Meanwhile, in the quiet of his office, Iron had spent several hours double-checking his work. After calibrating the scanner, he fixed his tired gaze on the block of Iron Oak.

Under microscopic magnification, an incredibly complex and precisely engineered structure came into view, visually resembling a technological matrix with concentric rings, intricate interwoven pathways, and shimmering golden and blue nodes. Every microscopic rune, invisible to the naked eye, had a strictly defined function, precise coordinates, a specific orientation, and a set of permissible connections to neighboring elements. The mana pathways formed a flawlessly calculated network of channels, ready to activate in stages, with each subsequent step permitted only after the stability of the previous one had been rigorously confirmed. Even the slightest deviation in geometry or structure could destroy the entire construct.

Once he was certain that every millimeter of the matrix had been calibrated to absolute perfection, Iron switched off the scanner.

Leaning back in his chair, he let out a heavy sigh, feeling the accumulated exhaustion press down on his shoulders.

Iron tried to get to his feet, intending to pick up the block, but the moment he moved, a sudden wave of weakness struck him.

A powerful bout of dizziness caught him off guard. The room instantly began to swim before his eyes, and even with his eyes tightly shut, the world continued swaying from side to side. Letting out a heavy breath, Iron was forced to sink back into his chair, pressing a palm against his forehead as a sudden wave of nausea washed over him.

After enduring several agonizing seconds, he slowly got up again. Carefully picking up the block of Iron Oak from the desk and clutching it in his numb fingers, Iron made his way around the massive desk and took another step forward.

With each successive step, his body grew weaker and heavier. His strength was rapidly draining away, and his vision began to darken. Somehow managing to cover the short distance, he collapsed onto the sofa, utterly exhausted, breathing heavily and still gripping the block tightly in his hands.

Closing his eyes, Iron let out a low, frustrated sigh:

"Damn..."

Meanwhile, Eliza had already left the group of settlers behind when a strange, persistent unease began to settle over her. She hadn't seen Iron since that morning, and a vague premonition told her something was wrong.

As she walked through the evening village, passing the fires flickering to life, she found herself dwelling on an unsettling thought:

Don't tell me you've gone back to tinkering with your metal contraptions again...

She reached the Main Building, pushed open the front door, and stepped into the dimly lit hall. Walking farther inside, Eliza stopped in front of the right door, quietly opened it a crack, and peered into the office.

Before her eyes, Iron, pale and exhausted, struggled to push himself up from the sofa. Bracing one hand heavily against the armrest, he tried to keep his balance.

Eliza gave him a once-over and muttered under her breath:

"And where do we think we're going?"

Iron tiredly looked up at her and tried to hide the block of Iron Oak behind his back. But Eliza had noticed the movement.

She crossed the room, walked around him, and sat down on the sofa. After casting a brief glance at the object clutched in his hands, she asked:

"And what exactly are you hiding behind your back?"

Iron let out a heavy sigh and held her gaze for a moment before finally sitting down beside her.

A long, drawn-out silence settled between them. In the quiet that followed, the only sounds coming from outside were the faint, muffled voices of the settlers, snippets of conversation and footsteps that faded away almost as quickly as they came. The silence in the room stretched on, but Eliza stubbornly kept her eyes fixed on Iron, waiting for him to speak first.

Finally, Iron broke the oppressive silence. Slightly closing his eyes as another wave of nausea washed over him, he spoke in a hoarse, exhausted voice:

"Concentrating too intensely for too long has left me dizzy, and I feel like I'm about to throw up..."

Eliza continued watching him silently, never taking her eyes off him. Noticing her gaze, Iron hesitated for a moment before quietly adding:

"But I still wanted to finish the pocket dimension for Elyria."

Eliza raised her eyebrows, giving him a pointed look that seemed to say, Go on. That's not the whole story.

Iron let out a tired sigh and said:

"So she could regain her true form sooner and carry out my orders faster and more efficiently."

Eliza listened carefully, shook her head slightly, and asked:

"And was it really that hard? Was it really so difficult to just say that?"

Iron could only nod heavily in response.

Eliza let out a deep breath as she rose from the sofa, then looked sternly down at him.

"Stay here. I'll bring you something to eat. And only after that will you go back to whatever it is you need to do. Only after that! Understood?"

Completely exhausted, Iron finally leaned back against the sofa, nodding wearily in agreement. Eliza then left the room, while Iron remained seated in silence, his eyes closed.

Iron sat in silence for several seconds with his eyes closed, allowing the wave of weakness to subside a little. A thought crossed his mind that he would also have to craft a door out of the same Iron Oak, but he immediately dismissed it.

Elyria can take care of that.

After a brief pause, he slowly opened his eyes and cast a weary glance at the block resting in his hands.

"Have you finished everything, Lumon?" he whispered, barely audible.

A clear voice immediately sounded in his mind:

"All components, microstructures, and channels are fully prepared for integration," Lumon reported. "The raw aether has been successfully extracted from hyperspace, stabilized, and secured in the buffer. We're just waiting for your command."

Iron sat silently for another ten seconds, processing the information, then let out a quiet sigh:

"I see..."

At that moment, he heard the steady footsteps of Eliza returning, drawing closer from the other side of the door.